Nick Hogan appeared in court yesterday, May 9th, to face felony reckless driving charges. Nick pleaded no contest to the charges and was sentenced to 8 months in jail.

Nick was charged with felony reckless driving after he crashed his yellow Toyota Supra last August. The son of wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan was street racing when his car hit the curb and spun out of control slamming into a palm tree.

Nick’s best friend and passenger, John Graziano, was critically injured in the accident. The Graziano family was requesting that Nick receive at least one year of the possible five year jail sentence, since their son is now facing a life sentence. It has been reported that John Graziano will need lifelong support and will have to live out the remainder of his life in a nursing home.

Nick told the court that, ” I would like to apologize to the Graziano family and to my family for the accident. Every single day I think about the accident and about John.”

Due to his age and the fact that he has no prior criminal record Nick Hogan will not have a felony conviction on his record. His full sentence includes 8 months in jail, which he began to serve immediately, 500 hours of community service, he is not allowed to consume any alcohol, and his license has been revoked for 3 years.

The Hogan family has been slapped with a major civil lawsuit regarding the car crash that Nick Bollea got into August of last year.

Bollea was street racing his 1998 Toyota Supra against his silver Dodge Viper which was driven by his friend, Daniel Jacobs. Report said that Bollea was driving over 60mph in a 40mph zone and had been drinking heavily earlier that day. The lawsuit was filed by Bollea’s passenger, John Graziano, who is still in critical condition.

The lawsuit filed in Clearwater by John Graziano’s attorneys cites one count of negligence against Hogan’s son, Nick Bollea, three counts of negligence against Terry Bollea (Hogan), one against Linda Bollea (Bollea’s mother and Hogan’s wife) and a final count against Daniel Jacobs, the driver of the Dodge Viper.

Graziano who was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident, suffered serious head wounds, was left in a semiconscious state and his family says he will require medical care for the rest of his life. An attorney says millions of dollars will be sought.

It was previously reported that last August, Nick Bollea, son of Hulk Hogan and Linda Bollea, was involved in a major car accident in Clearwater, Florida.

Nick’s car veered off the road and struck a palm tree. Nick was not driving alone. He had his friend John Graziano with him who had to be extracted from the vehicle using the “jaws of life.”

“His car inexplicably left the road,” Clearwater Police spokesman Wayne Shelor tells PEOPLE, “and it was totally destroyed upon impact.”

Although it is still unknown what caused the single car accident, police believe that the car was traveling at very high speeds; eyewitnesses have corroborated with this analysis.

Bollea and Graziano were both taken away by helicopter to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg. Bollea was labeled as in serious condition while his friend was in critical condition, and still is today.  While Bollea was wearing his seatbelt at the time of the accident, his friend was not; and, it is said that Graziano’s extensive eye and brain traumas will likely leave him in a nursing home for the rest of his life.  Bollea was released from the hospital the day after the accident, which seems amazing by looking at the pictures of the crash.

Not long after the accident, Nick was charged with a felony and several other violations.  On November 7, 2007 Nick turned himself in to police. Nick’s pre-trial is set for April 14. Bollea faces a maximum of 5 years in state prison on a charge of a 3rd degree felony for reckless driving causing bodily injury, plus having a blood alcohol level above .02 for a person under the age of 21 (he had a level of .055 two hours after the accident occurred).